In addition to ESPN ranking all 32 rosters heading into the upcoming season, they would also choose the X-factor for each team as well. When it came to the Indianapolis Colts, ESPN selected two X-factors: defensive ends Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu.
“Paye finished last season strong, ranking 12th in pass rush win rate at the edge from Week 10 on,” wrote Seth Walder. “If that second half continues into 2024, and Latu — the first defensive player selected in the 2024 draft — can disrupt QBs right away, then the Colts could have a feisty pass rush between those two and Buckner.”
The name of the game in the NFL is getting after the quarterback and the Colts are equipped to do that as well as just about any team, and that ability to do so goes beyond just Paye and Latu. This is a very deep defensive front that GM Chris Ballard has constructed.
Latu will enter the NFL as a “polished” pass rusher, as Ballard put it, which should allow him to make an impact sooner than later, especially when utilized in obvious pass rush situations.
“I would say he’s real slippery,” Paye said of Latu. “He gets on and off blocks real easy, can bend the corner, turn the edge, and just really manipulating the O-line. You know, just his counters and his spins, everything like that, just watching his film, it’s crazy.”
Paye’s sack production has continued to improve each season, culminating with a career-high 8.5 sacks last season, and as Walder notes, he showcased more consistency in getting after the quarterback during the second half of the season–something that will have to continue if Paye is going to replicate that sack production this season.
Along with Paye’s ability to get after the quarterback, he was one of PFF’s higher-graded edge defenders against the run. Paye’s skill set, coupled with Latu’s, should complement each other well.
In addition to Paye totaling over 8.0 sacks in 2023, so did Samson Ebukam – who led the team with 9.5 sacks – Dayo Odeyingbo and DeForest Buckner.
Along with that trio, the Colts also have one of the best run-stuffers in Grover Stewart in the middle of their defense, Raekwon Davis, who will bolster the interior depth against both the run and pass, as well as Tyquan Lewis, who was very efficient with his pass rush opportunities last season.
This ability that the Colts will have to rely on eight or nine players along the defensive front will create a hockey-like rotation for defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. This will help keep players fresh, it will tire out the offensive line, and allow Bradley to really play matchups by mixing and matching personnel based on the opponent or situation.
“I think it’ll just be a big problem for other teams,” said Paye about the Colts’ defensive front. “You know, like you see teams that make it far in the playoffs, the Chiefs, the 49ers, the Eagles, teams like that where they just have a second D-line that could be a first D-line anywhere else.
“So that’s kind of like, I feel like that’s what we’re trying to build here. There’s no dropoff. As soon as the second D-line coming, the O-line doesn’t have rest, like the O-line doesn’t have the chance to regroup for the first team coming in. So for us, I mean, it’s going to be great. So for us, I mean, it’s going to be great.”
Contributing to the disruption that the Colts should be able to cause in the trenches is the attacking play style that Bradley wants from his front. In short, the job of the defensive front is to get off the ball quickly and into the backfield as fast as they can.
As the old saying goes, if you can control the line of scrimmage, you can control the game.